


Blackbird singing in the dead of night // Escape

by inadase



Series: Escape // Resist // Sacrifice [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter RPF
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-30
Updated: 2013-05-11
Packaged: 2017-11-21 01:10:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/591749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inadase/pseuds/inadase
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The years after Andromeda left Hogwarts were hard on them both, the tried to move on and live without one another but it was just too hard. Because when your in love you need the other person there like crazy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The memories of a caged bird.

**Author's Note:**

> First part of my lil trilogy I guess, this part is called Escape and I can't promise to update regularly but I can try.

Six months. Six months, two days. Six months, two days, four hours and fifty-seven minutes. Now it was fifty-eight. Andromeda stood on the windy moor, looking out over the vast expanse of grey thick fog that lay above her. It had been almost two years since she had left the safety of the castle she used to call home. Such a long time. Now in less than two minutes she would see the face of the person she had missed the most. Her breath was visible on the air, blending into that thick fog that only increased the sense of fear in her. But at least it meant she was harder to see.

Her fingers reached to the engagement ring that still felt weirdly heavy on her hand, she twisted it, played with it before prying it off and placing it into her pocket. So much had changed since the last day in the castle at the end of her sixth year. The day that Ted had held her tight in his arms as she pressed her tear soaked face into his chest; whilst he promised her they would find a way through this. He had been so hurt when, when she told him she wasn’t going to fight it, when she had told him she was leaving for the masked villains that wanted him dead. He had pretended to understand about her sister, and that she wasn’t going to abandon the younger girl. Yet his eyes had been filled with so much pain in that moment... She was getting ahead of herself. The memories were too much.

At least it wasn’t like with Sirius. Her cousin and her oldest friend had tried to talk her out of it, told her to stand up to her family and leave like he had. They had always been close. Since she was small she would follow him around in her wellingtons, ruffling his hair and covering for him when he got into trouble. He was her messy little puppy, her closest friend and for a good long while the only person in her family that she could truly trust. Regulus was too quiet for his own good.  Bellatrix was always to extreme to notice her sister’s weaknesses. Narcissa didn’t want to listen, being stubborn and young as they were. Sirius had a way of simply wrapping his arms around her, a way of understanding her without words and just making it all simply go away...

That fight had broken her heart. She had watched the only person who’s approval she cared about simply refuse to accept she was taking the cowards way out, choosing not to stand up against the Dark Lord but to join him for her own selfish reasons. She couldn’t leave her sisters knowing the danger they were in. She remembered the hot, angry tears streaming down his face...

_“I’m not brave like you Pup!”_

_“But you could be Meda!”_

_“No. I’m not. I’m terrified and taking the easy way out.”_

She choked on a sob just thinking about it, the space where the ring had been almost burning her skin. She hoped Sirius was happy, running around with his friends and being stupid. They were probably fighting somewhere. But she couldn’t bring herself to think of her cousin in the firing line. That was the last thing she wanted. Some nights- some nights she would sit up for hours after everyone was asleep and imagine what would happen if she met Sirius whilst duelling. Most of the time, her work kept her inside the house. She’d been lucky there. Translating old passages, letters for the higher members of the Death Eaters or intercepting ministry paperwork. Maybe that was the advantage of the Black name, to be able to sit in a dusty manor and hope that everyone you loved would come home safe that night.

Six months, two days, five hours and one minute. He was late. As each second ticked by her worry began to grow. She didn’t have long, and what little time she did have she wanted to spend with him. Avery was already beginning to doubt her, the act of the perfect pureblood daughter was beginning to fail- the cracks starting to show now. In the six months since her engagement she hadn’t had a chance to slip away and to be held in his warm arms again. It was the night of the proposal she had seen him last, pretending to need some air and managing to stray far enough to see Ted safely.

“ _Come away with me, we’ll run. We can keep on running and they’ll never ever find us.”_

His smile had been enough to make her want to agree, she had wanted to believe she could run forever without ever thinking of the people she had left behind. But by making that statement he had broken the one rule she had ever given him. He wasn’t to ask her to choose. That wasn’t fair. Not when she knew that every time her own happiness would come second. Every time she would put other people before herself. It was her nature, things had always been that way. The seconds seeped by with only the whirling wind and old memories for company. No matter how hard she tried to push the past away it just seemed back out, clawing and scratching to drag her back once again. The only thing that could interrupt her thoughts was the loud crack that broke the eerie silence.


	2. Unrequited love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone arrives to follow Andromeda, but maybe not who you'd expect. She gets lost in memories of what used to be.

_ September- 1971 _

_Andromeda sat in the broom cupboard of the Entrance Hall, sniffing. If she was honest, she had known that she wasn't going to be sorted into Gryffindor with her cousin Sirius. She wasn't brave enough, not like him. A quiet knock on the door made her jump, and she looked up to see a boy with a dopey smile and messy blonde hair peer around the door. He already had a black and yellow tie drooped lazily across his shoulders, untied and sloppy. She couldn't think of his name though. He must have come after her in the register since she had spent the time after her own sorting trying to hold back her tears. He stepped inside, leaving the door ever so slightly ajar. "You alright there?" He asked with a frown starting to show on his face._

_"Y-yes..." She replied, sniffing again and pushing her long brown hair away from her face. Her knees were pulled up to her chest, her sleeves of her robes pulled over her hands. "I'm not stupid." He added, shaking his head indignantly, crossing his arms over his chest as he puffed it out. That just made her laugh. "You look it! Why is your tie undone?!"_

_The boy started to turn a deep shade of red as she mocked him, but still kept his chest puffed out. She smiled, letting the silence linger slightly then saying with a smirk; "You don't know how to tie it, do you...?" whist standing up and wandering over to him. Her hands reached for the thin strip of fabric, creating a loop and feeding the material though it before pulling the knot tight. He relaxed a little, smiling softly at her again. "Thanks miss Black."_ _  
He ran a hand though his hair to pull it in yet another direction, leaving it sticking up at all angles. He looked downright hilarious. At least his tie was done up properly. Andromeda pursed her lips at him, narrowing her eyes as. "It's not fair you know my name, and I don't know yours."_

_He opened his mouth to reply as the door to the broom cupboard flew open with a crash that echoed off the cold stone walls. Another familiar face stood rigid in the doorway. His knuckles were white against the old wood as the Hufflepuff boy and Andromeda turned to him, suddenly feeling nervous to be found in a broom cupboard with a stranger on her first day..._

_  
_She felt the wand at her throat before she had a chance to react. His hands gripped around her neck so tight. She had no idea how he had followed her in this way. As she felt his grip loosen, Andromeda pushed away from her betrothed whilst a hand rubbed at where his fingers hand been digging into her. She turned to face him, swallowing and opening her mouth in search for an excuse. Yet when her eyes met his, he was the first to talk.

"It's him, isn't it?"

Garrett Avery's voice was almost lost in the howling winds. In the eleven years she had known him, Andromeda had never heard him speak so quiet. She used to play with him as a kid, even then he felt the need to fill silences with rambling words of some kind. She had watched him grow from an awkward boy into a handsome man all the women wanted. He had this way of breaking hearts; of making a girl feel like the sun shone out of her. But he only seemed to have eyes for the middle Black sister. Because every time she turned him down, it was like he had found it more encouraging. 

One nights drunken kisses had turned into two. Soon kisses turned into something more. Her sixth year was pent as his prize, yet the pride on her families face meant she couldn't bring herself to end it. Avery was far from innocent. But she made him happy- honestly happy. For a while she used to tear herself apart at night trying to find a way out. She would sit in their bed, the blankets falling in her lap as she pulled her knees up to her chest and ran her hands though her hair for hours on end. She would think of Ted, wonder if he was sitting up thinking about her. He had a life outside of Hogwarts too. He and Charity had a small flat in London, close to the city. She would wonder what life would be like if she had said yes on that last day of school, if she had run off into the sunset with him. Her choice had been plain, yet far from simple. Garrett loved her. She didn't love him. But she never wanted to hurt him, she never wished for that.

Biting her lip, Andromeda wanted to reply, she wanted to tell him that he had assumed wrong and that she was standing on a moor hundreds of miles from where they lived for a perfectly innocent reason. 

"Why?" The confusion in his voice had begun to mingle with fury. "What have I not given you?! What is it, that after all these years makes you choose mudblood filth over-"

"NO!" She spat back at him. her mouth in almost a snarl. She was rarely angry, barely even frustrated but these few words were enough to provoke a reaction. She didn't care how he had followed her, she didn't care about anything else other than right here- right now. "Don't."

"Don't what?" He replied gripping his wand tighter in his left hand. Those cold blue eyes of his normally lit up with warmth at the sight of her. Only her. Now she was viewed with disgust. As much as she knew she didn't love him, Andromeda felt a stab of pain.

"Call him that. Look at me like that."

"Why not Black?" The use of her surname stung so much that she winced, he just carried on. "It was always him, wasn't it? After all these years, do I mean nothing to you?"

She opened her mouth to reply but Garrett wouldn't stop. "I cared for you, looked after you, gave you everything you ever wanted! You have no idea how valuable you are, do you? How much I-"

Andromeda thought she saw something that resembled sadness in his eyes at that moment. She couldn't be sure. Even this man she knew loved her so completely...

_ April 1977 _

_Garrett stood in the library. Actually seeing him here was rare. He was normally chasing some girl on a Saturday, trying to forget the one he'd spent Friday night with. Only in this case, she was the Friday night girl. She had been lonely. No one seemed to understand. One of Emma Vanity's dungeon parties had left her watching every couple in the room, knowing she would never be that happy. So she'd taken a gulp of fire whiskey, and then a few more. Her awful balance meant she twisted her ankle and of course Avery had been there to catch her. Leaning on him in her drunk state, their lips had met. Her hands on his body, his in her hair as they searched frantically for a classroom. Anywhere they could be alone. One hell of a Friday night._

_Waking up in the morning, the window sill in the library three shelves in had been her best idea for a hiding spot. Not such a great one given the fact she always hid in the same place. It meant people could find her without even trying. She couldn't look at him, but Garrett watched her as he leaned on the shelves lined with potions reference books. She kept focused on the view from the window as his voice broke the silence._

_"You weren't there when I woke up."_

_"We were drunk, it was just some fun for you. Avery you don ha-" Her voice was hushed as he interrupted her._

_"No."_

_"No what?" Andromeda was confused, he wasn't making any sense._

_"No, it wasn't just fun. No I wasn't drunk. No, I do have to... well whatever you were going to finish with." He stood up, stuffing his hands into his pockets and actually looking vulnerable for once. "I like you Black. I really fucking like you. Last night you were just..." He stepped closer as she made space for him on the sill, intent on his words._

_"Go tell it to some other girl Garrett-" She crossed her arms but yet again he but in._

_"I won't. There's no other girl, never has been. You're the one for me, alright? Last night was proof. Be mine Black. Don't make me beg." Garret was nervous. Actually nervous. Not smooth talking, not playing games but being genuine. Maybe this was more than some Friday night fling..._

_  
_The silence was broken again. Two cracks louder than gunshots followed by raised wands. Garrett barked "FILTH!"

Six months, two days, five hours and eleven minutes. Better late than never.

 


	3. Playing Pretend All Over Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lost in memories of the last time she saw her cousin, Andromeda's escape is going far from to plan.

_ December 1977 _

_She felt Sirius’ head on her shoulder and draped an arm around his shoulders from the safety of their hidden meeting place. It was snowing in the Transfiguration Courtyard, and the light was fading over the castle making it hard to see very far. No one would be out in this horrid weather, no one but the two Blacks who sat on the old stone bench out of sight from onlookers under the large oak tree. The odd laugh from the couple having a snowball fight on the other side of the trunk could be overheard, Andromeda shutting her eyes and just letting herself take in the mingling smell of fresh snow and her cousin. She missed him more than she could ever describe, and with their meetings becoming few and far between she made the most of every second she had with him. Well, she usually did. Today the laughing couple were distracting her._

_Sirius seemed to sense her discomfort, so reached out to hold her hand as her eyelid fluttered open. The laughs had turned into speech, a high pitched voice squealing with delight- “No! No Ted, Ted don’t you- AH! That’s freezing! Oh you’re going to get it now…”_

_A few pants and snow muffled shuffles and the giggling returned again. Her cousin squeezed her hand as the laughter seemed to trail off into the distance. The couple must have found a more private place, not knowing about the hiding spot just on the other side of the tree. She leaned around the knarled and twisted trunk to see the mop of long, curly, blonde hair disappearing into the warmth of the castle corridors, the dopey, smiling Hufflepuff she had met in first ear following close behind. As she relaxed, she let out a heavy sigh that was visible in the cold air._

_“He’s not happy you know.” Sirius’ voice interrupted her thoughts, he was watching her face carefully for the slightest sign of reaction. She wasn’t about to show her older cousin just how deep the blonde girls laugher had cut her, knowing that she could be happy with the same Hufflepuff boy if she just forgot everything and everyone else. If she was selfish._

_“Really?” She laughed, putting on smile. “He seemed pretty happy to me. Who wouldn’t be? Charity’s a lovely girl. Must be something special to make him laugh like that.”_

_“She’s not you. Some bloody ditzy blonde is nothing compared to you Meda. Who needs Charity Burbage compared to Andromeda fucking Black?”_

_Andromeda tried to stifle her laughter as she grinned at her cousin, ruffling his hair playfully. “You do know that’s not my middle name Pup?”_

_Sirius just laughed, that barking laugh that no one else seemed to be able to mimic. “Lyra, fucking, they all sound the same to me.” He replied as his smile seemed to dim slightly, his eyes loosing the cheery spark that she was so familiar with. “You said you needed me?”_

_Squeezing his hand through her house elf knitted gloves, Andromeda bit her lip to give her time to think. What she had to say next, he wouldn’t take well._

_But she’d put it off for so long now, years longer than she should have. She had known the outcome from the day Sirius had left Grimmauld Place, and with Avery becoming closer and closer to her- she couldn’t seem to find any alternative. She would not leave Narcissa alone with those people; she would not leave Regulus behind. People relied on her and that mattered more than playing “What if?” with some charming, dopey, considerate Hufflepuff._

_Before she even opened her mouth however, he seemed to know what was coming. He held her gloved hand so tight just for a moment, then let go. His eyes revealed a mixture of anger and sorrow that only someone who had known him all his life would recognise. Even now he was awful at hiding his feelings. She could read him like a book, just like when they were young. He felt anger, anger at the rest of the family that they couldn’t be together. He felt loss, the loss of his best friend through the hardest times of his life. But most of all he felt confusion- because although she was joining the enemy he could never imagine raising a wand to his Meda. Not her. Anyone but her._

_  
_Two cracks. The first was the apperance of a tall, dark haired man to Avery's left. His dark eyes held the same mix of pain and frustration they had the first time they had met, however he didn't focus on her for long. That made her glad, having to hold his gaze with feigned disgust was hard after not seeing one another for four years. All she wanted was to run to her cousin and hold him, tell him how fantastic was to see him alive and well. He turned to face his persuer, a rugged, short haired main who had apparated alongside him. Evan Rosier. None of these people were supposed to be here, not Garrett, not Evan, especailly not Sirius. She had wanted it to be Ted and Ted alone. She hadn't asked how or why Avery had followed her, but the apperance of Sirius and Evan unnerved her.

Avery and Rosier both had their wands out as her finace charge towards Sirius, venom filling his voice. Her brave little Pup just stood there with a grin as Evans' wand settled at his throat, gripping his dark locks to prevent him from running. Andromeda didn't know how to react, what to think or say or do. This was never supposed to happen.

Garrett leaned closer to Spit in Sirius' face as she stood helpless, Evans' wand still below her cousins chin. The wind was so fierce she couldn't make out thier words, and to try and help him could have meant putting him in more danger. She squeezed her eyes shut for a few moments, hoping this was all some horrid nightmare. 

Not happening. Not happening.


	4. Traitors Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unable to watch, Andromeda is forced to act to try and make the best of the situation and figure out how she has been followed. But her actions lead to questions, maybe it will be time to tell the truth even if it doesn't seem right...

_July 1972_

_The Black summer ball was always a spectacle to behold, glistening chandeliers filled with Faries to light the rooms, floor length dresses and a 32 piece wizarding orchestra to accompany the twirling dancers. Most of the girls were always thrilled as it was the highlight of the summer season, the dance cards on their wrists filled with suitors named whist their parents made idle gossip of who's status had changed or what had happened since the winter. But Andromeda wasn't like most other girls. To her, ball season meant sore feet from the cutting heels, more stuffy dresses she could barely breath in and of course the worst thing imaginable- dnacing in public. Like her sisters, her mother had enrolled her in dace classes from the day she had been able to walk. Druella believed the way to a mans heart was in one dance, in that dance he decided whether a girl would make a good wife or not. It was all about sill, presonation and ease. A true woman would make it look effortless, full of grace. Clearly, she was a million miles away from a 'true woman'. At the age of four, she had fallen so badly that she had managed to knock both her sisters to the floor as well as her partner, and shatter Narcissa's ankle. After that her father seemed to think she could be excused from dancing. But society still demanded her to give it a go at every specail occasion._

_She sat on the fringes, hoping not to be noticed. At a function like this, a dance with the daughter of the host would be a prize many young men would have their eyes on. She spotted Sirius across the floor, dancing with a pretty blonde she thought to be one of the Yaxley sisters. He probably hated it as much as she did, all this keeping up apperances. She'd have to try and grab him later in the evening so they could both slip away and hide somewhere else in the house until it was all over. She was concentrating on her cousin so much, she didn't even realize the other relative approaching her. Evan looked strange in this setting, normally so quiet and introverted. He offered her his hand and she just looked up at him confused. Surely he didn't mean...?_

_"Mother's orders," He stated, shooting a glance to her aunt across the room. With a polite wave to the woman, Andromeda took his hand._

_"I don't think I've ever seen you dance before..." She mused as they made their way to the floor, both dreding it as much as the other. He gripped at her waist and tried to force her into an uncomfortable hold position, trying to help as best he could. As the instruments played or their own accord, she made a note to thank the dressmaker for letting the dress out far enough to cover her feet. It made it impossible for anyone to see how often she was tripping over them._

_Evan was playing the gentleman, capturing the attention of almost every girl who thought it best to scrowl at Ro and curse her luck at getting him onto the floor. Like she wanted this. After three silents spins she opened her mouth to try and make conversation with her cousin, attempting something like a smile before he thrust her backwards in time to the music- only for Andromeda to feel her ankle twist beneath her._

_Hitting the dancefloor with a thud, the muffled giggles were clear for everone to hear. Her mother would tell her later how shameful it was that the host daughter had disgraced their family. She lay on the floor, not wanting to look up but knowing her ankle hurt to much to run out now. Not that Bellatrix or Narcissa would let her even if it was possible. Keeping her eyes shut and her cheek to the cold tile, she heard someone bend down and felt them take her hand._

_She looked up, Sirius smiling down with his usual mischeivious grin. "Come on," He said softly, lifting her up and taking most of her weight to make sure she wasn't in pain. "Never mind them, they don't know the punch is spiked with Veretaserum. How about you and me get out of here before my father finds out, eh?"_

_  
_Not happening. Not happening. She opened her eyes once more to see her cousin held between Avery and Rosier, a grin on his face and their wands at his throat. It was only when she looked closely she could see how much he was sweating. She knew he was brave, but even when faced with this it was only a tiny detail that gave him away. Andromeda reached out for Garrett's arm, clinging tightly as he tried to shrug her off. She pulled him back, stepping between her betrothed and her best friend. She didin't see it as outting herself in the firing line, she was used to playing pretend by now. She knew what to act and what to say to make them believe it was right to spare Sirius, how to spin her words to make them feel like killing him would be against the Dark Lords wishes.

"Don't." Her voice was firm, unlike her churning stomach as she broke the tense silence.   
  


"Wha-" Avery started, but before he could finished she cut him off again, repeating the same phrase. Evan stood still, his eyes darting between the two of them and his watch. Why his watch? Ro wanted to ask, but she didn't dare whilst his wand was still tracing Sirius' throat. Instead she tried to voice her reasoning, make them see what they were doing. "Let him go as a warning to them, the order filth. Let them see that we can play with them like a cat with a mouse, that the Dark Lord will win and they shall all pay for their futlie resisitance."  
  


She sounded like Bella, not like herself as she noticed her cousins grin falter slightly. Beneath those dark eyes he was trying to figure out if it was an act or if in the few years apart he had really lost her along with the rest of his family. To see him in his worn suit with scars across his face hurt. She had only ever wanted him safe, if she was honest she would have known Sirius Black was always at the center of the action and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Except this time. This time she would make sure he got off this-

Her gaze with Avery was only broken by one last crack, just when she thoguht things couldn't become any worse. Turning to face whoever else had managed to somehow follow her, she took a sharp breath inwards that she couldn't help.  **Not him. Not now.**


End file.
